に決める・～になる vs にする: "To decide on 〇〇"

Introduction

Everyone has trouble making a decision at some point, but have you ever wanted to be able to do it in two different languages?? Well, today’s your lucky day. We’re gonna decide, and then we’re gonna decide again with a slightly different grammatical connotation, and then we’re gonna decide yet again. Ready? Set. 碁ご.

I’ll Have Pancakes! No, Wait… Waffles! No, Wait…

Structure

• 

  Nounに決きめる・にする
  Example:
  → パンケーキにします。
  ”I’m going to have the pancakes.”

• 

  Nounになる
  Example:
  → 行いくことになりました。
  ”I’m going to be going.”

As you can see from the structures, we’re gonna talk about three different ways you can express a decision in Japanese: にする, に決きめる, and になる. But first, I wanna clear something up!